


Without a Few Risks

by AmiMendal



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Arguing, F/M, Friendship, Light Angst, Male-Female Friendship, Mutual Pining, Post-War, Severus Snape Lives, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:54:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28157907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmiMendal/pseuds/AmiMendal
Summary: Two professors have been dancing around their feelings. One argument will decide their fate.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Severus Snape
Comments: 4
Kudos: 49
Collections: Hearts and Cauldrons - Daily Prompts!, Hearts and Cauldrons Discord Members





	Without a Few Risks

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt credit to Mersheeple!  
> High five to the H&C Discord for being amazingly supportive friends!

They’d been dancing around each other for a month. Between the electrical magic that shocked them with each brush of the arm and the lingering eyes during staff meetings, Severus and Hermione were orbiting.

Every staff member - even Hagrid - noticed the friendship between them over the last two years. And, more importantly,  how that friendship was blossoming into something more.

It was that awkward, uncomfortable silence that lingered between them now as they graded papers in the staff room. Severus ignored the way the fairy lights and Christmas baubles reflected in Hermione’s eyes, just as Hermione pretended not to smell his special Yuletide tea as it wafted towards her nostrils.

Proud to have wiggled her way into his life, Hermione collected her thoughts and organized her emotions before taking a calming breath. She stood, her plum robes cascading to the floor as she straightened invisible creases from the bodice. In three steps, she’d be in front of him. In two steps, she’d see the markings on the essay he graded. In one step, she’d feel the magic crackling between them.

“Severus, I-” she cleared her throat, “I’d like to speak with you.”

He set the quill down with methodical precision, the tip never leaking on his long fingers. “Go on.”

Steadying herself, Hermione gave a curt nod. “I thought it prudent that we discuss the… delicate nature of our- our relationship-”

“To what  _ relationship  _ do you speak?” Her deadpan expression spoke more than her words ever could. He continued. “We are simply workplace proximity associates.”

“Workplace prox- Really, Severus? Are you saying you don’t feel- That you don’t want-” her words caught in her throat, too afraid of outright rejection. “Tell me to my face that you don’t want anything more than friendship, Severus Snape.”

He straightened in his chair, shoulders pulling back as if steeling himself to release the strongest of wards.

“Granger, I value you as a scholar and as a colleague who volunteers to do rounds on evenings I have Potions to brew. I appreciate that you can and do read up on topics that pertain to more than just your own field, and acknowledge that it is done with more than just a selfish love of academics. Your mind is a vast array of subjects that allow you to share and grow with others.”

“But?” Hermione offered.

“But,” Severus repeated, a small sigh escaping him, “I don’t want you. I never wanted you.”

Brown eyebrows creased as his words crashed over her. Her chest heaved with the shattering of her broken heart. Swallowing the cry that attempted to overcome her, Hermione took a step back. The silence that surrounded them was an extra knife in her already bleeding soul. “Was I the fool who read the signs wrong?” she whispered. “Did I translate the lingering eyes and soft brushes incorrectly? Did I-” she tried not to sniffle too loudly, “Did I allow myself to be blinded by your brilliant mind and sarcastic mouth, all the while you were just- What,  _ playing with me _ ?”

He stood then, so suddenly that the chair scraped loudly against the stone floor. “I am not one of your little school boys that would manipulate you into falling for them.” His black eyes shimmered with anger but Hermione knew it was in defense of his intentions. It shot a thrill through her.” I have never - not  _ once!  _ \- considered toying with the emotions of a woman I consider to be the most hardworking, insightful, brilliant woman I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet!”

Severus’ ragged breaths echoed through the staff room, though he could only hear the rapid pumping of his own heart. His pale, scarred hands shook with the emotion he struggled to contain and his chest ached with what he would blame as a middle-aged cramp rather than a torn heart.

Not broken. Never broken. Not ever again.

Hermione reached for his hands, grasping them to assist in steadying them. Her voice sounded weak to her own ears, “I didn’t mean to imply that you were a- what was it-  _ little school boy _ ? Severus, you should know how I see you. I’ve been more than obvious, I think. If you don’t reciprocate my feelings, that’s one thing. I don’t want to lose the friendship-”

“Workplace proximity assoc-”

“Oh stop that, we’re friends and you know it, Severus Snape.” Her eyes glimmered with mirth and he couldn’t help but smirk back at her. “I don’t want to lose the  _ friendship  _ we’ve formed.” She released him, sad to feel the lack of his skin on hers but ready to accept it. “You’re important to me, Severus. And if that means I limp away, licking my wounds but keeping our friendship… Well, I’ll be okay with that.”

She offered him a tight smile that didn’t reach her eyes before turning away. Gathering the last of the essays she’d graded, she reached for the door.

“Wait, Granger, I-”

Hermione’s stomach jolted, her lungs jumping into her throat. His black eyebrows furrowed but he could not meet her gaze. “I want… so many things. But I taint everything I touch. I lose everyone I love. I cannot-” Long fingers danced over the sleeve of her robes, not quite touching, but not quite needing to. “I cannot bear to think that we would lose our…  _ friendship _ if a relationship was to turn sour.”

She tried to keep the grin off her face, but the muscles refused to listen to her logic and reason. “I understand.”

Severus’ Adam’s apple bobbed with a nervous swallow. “I don’t want to take any more risks in life.”

Hermione’s head tilted in consideration, curly hair brushing the spot he’d just hovered near. “What’s life without a few risks?”

**Author's Note:**

> Mersheeple's prompt was: “I don’t want you. I never wanted you.”


End file.
